This portion of II Samuel selected for today's devotional reveals a very sad ending to the "double act of sin" that King David committed while serving as King of Israel.

David had lusted over Bathsheba, the wife of one of his "mighty fighting men", Uriah. David was driven so much by his lust for Bathsheba that he had her husband killed. The King then had a child by this other man's wife.

These sins had already taken place, and then the prophet Nathan who tells King David a story of how one man mistreated another. The story made the King angry until Nathan told David that "he was the man". the man who had mistreated the other, verses 1-11.

David's anger changed to sorrow and repentance, verse 13, and the Lord did not kill the King of Israel for these sins right then. However, Nathan told David that his son by Bathsheba would die because of the sin. Notice, verse 12, what David had done secretly, the Lord would reveal openly before all of Israel.

David would pray that his son would not die because of the sins he, David, had committed. But the Lord did take the son. Verse 14 tells us why the Lord took David's son. The sins of King David had given occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme Him, and therefore the Lord would take the child.

In no way can one commend David for what he did, murder and adultery. However, David confessed his sins and the Lord forgave the King even though he would have to pay the consequences, his young son would die. There are consequences for sin.

Before we leave this passage please notice the last verse of our extended reading. Though it is not an absolute, the verse seems to say that "babies" at death go directly into the presence of God to be with Him forever.

We know that David will be in heaven, and the verse tells us that his "baby" will be there also, "I shall go to him but he cannot return to me", verse 23.

Though David was forgiven of his sins, he did suffer the consequences of these sins, here on the earth in his lifetime. Our sins will be forgiven if we confess them, I John 1:9, but we must remember that there will be consequences for our sins that we must live through, in this lifetime.

PRAYER THOT: Help me Lord, to stay away from sin, so that I don't give occasion to others to blaspheme You, and thus I will also escape the consequences of sin.